A Glance
by BSBnACcHiCk
Summary: Short and plotless glance at what Ponyboy Curtis's life might be like at the age of sixteen.


Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. The novel was written by an amazing author, S.E. Hinton.  
  
Ponyboy Curtis turned on the roaring engine and swerved off down the street. He pressed down harder on the gas pedal, ignoring the fact that the speedometer said sixty. Then he suddenly swerved to a stop and made a U- turn back home. He had forgotten his wallet, which contained his license. He figured he might not need it but Darry'd have a fit if he found it laying at home while Ponyboy was out driving around. He halted the car in front of his house and ran in.  
  
"Back so soon?" Soda asked the second he ran in.  
  
"You seen my wallet?" Pony asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's in your room." Soda said. "I was short on cash this morning so I borrowed a few bucks. You don't mind, do yah?"  
  
Pony rolled his eyes and looked at his brother annoyed. "Soda, I'm taking Ally out tonight. We're going to dinner and a movie. That requires money, yah know?"  
  
"Well its not like I'm not gonna pay you back." Soda said. "The key word is borrow."  
  
"That's not the point. I'm already late and knowing you you'll pay me back in a month at the earliest." Soda glared at Pony. "Forget it." Ponyboy said. "I'll borrow some from Darry."  
  
"Borrow what from Darry?" Darry shouted from his room.  
  
"Can you lend me some cash?" Pony shouted back.  
  
"I figured that'd be what you wanted." Darry said emerging from his room and handing Pony a ten.  
  
"Thanks!" Ponyboy said stuffing it into his pocket. He ran into his room and found his wallet laying under a pile of books and went back out the door.  
  
"Ponyboy, be home by curfew, yah hear?" Darry yelled.  
  
"Yeah." Ponyboy yelled from outside. He hopped back in and swerved down the road once again. Late, I'm gonna be late. Pony thought. Ally hated it when he was late. He flipped on the radio and rolled down the window as he tried to relax his tense shoulders. It was a warm Summer evening and it was real nice; a good night to go out and have some fun which was exactly what Ponyboy intended to do. School had just ended a week ago and the long awaited Summer vacation was here. This met no more pressure from his teachers and Darry for the next three months. He dreaded and looked forward to next year when he would be a senior. Darry'd really be tough to deal with then. Ponyboy had skipped tenth grade and they'd put him in eleventh. So he would only be sixteen and in the twelve grade. Most kids didn't dig that and they gave him some trouble about it. Darry and Soda just said it was because they didn't want to have to be compared to such a bright kid but Ponyboy still wasn't sure if he was gonna buy that.  
  
He arrived at Ally's house several minutes later. He parked quickly and ran up to the front door. Ponyboy straightened his shirt and knocked. The door was opened by a small boy, about the age of nine. He eyed Ponyboy for a short moment and then grinned. "Hi, is your sister here, Zach?" Ponyboy asked him.  
  
"Ally!" The boy called. "You're boyfriends here!" He laughed and ran off down the hall. Ponyboy felt his cheeks turn a bit red.  
  
Ally came down the stairs, dressed and ready. Her brown hair flowed down her back and her eyes glistened.  
  
"Hi, Pon." She said walking over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You good?"  
  
"Yup." He said returning the kiss.  
  
Ally turned back momentarily to make an announcement. "I'm leaving!" She called then shut the door behind them and they walked to the car.  
  
"You're brother, Zach." Ponyboy said. "He's getting big."  
  
"Uggh." Ally said. "That and extremely annoying." Ponyboy smiled and opened the door for her and then went to get in his side.  
  
"So how you doing?" Pony asked starting up the car.  
  
"Good, and you are?"  
  
"Fantastic!" Ponyboy said as he sped off.  
  
"Oh, why so fantastic? What happened that I don't know about?" She asked.  
  
"Nothing you don't know about." Pony said. "It's summer, I'm sixteen, I've got my license, I'm with the prettiest girl in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we're going to go watch Paul Newman."  
  
"Oh, yet, another Paul Newman movie." She said in an annoyed tone but she grinned at him sweetly. Ponyboy smiled and reached over to give Ally a kiss quickly before turning onto the next street.  
  
They got to the Dingo and walked in. Two-Bit was in there with a girl cracking jokes. "Hey, Two-Bit." Pony said. Two-Bit looked up and gave his friend a grin. "How's it feel to finally be out of high school?" Ponyboy asked. Somehow Two-Bit had managed to graduate that year at the age of twenty and he didn't know weather to be happy or sad about it.  
  
"It's kinda depressing." Two-Bit said. "What am I gonna do all next year and for the rest of my life?"  
  
"Well, you could start off by getting a job." Ally suggested. She had been dating Ponyboy for the last five months and she was good friends with all of the gang now. They'd all fallen in love with her gleeful spirit right away.  
  
"Nah." Two-Bit said. "That's boring."  
  
Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "C'mon Lil, lets get some food. I aint eaten since eleven a.m. You hungry?"  
  
"Famished," She said "and we're splitting the bill tonight. You pay every time we go out and you have to at least let me help once and awhile."  
  
"Oh, no." Ponyboy said leading her to a booth. "I will continue to pay every time."  
  
"Why? Does it make you feel more manly?" She asked with a smile.  
  
"That, and it's just the way things work." Ponyboy said 'as a matter of fact like.' He slid into the booth next to her and they ordered some food.  
  
"Isn't Tim having a party tonight?" Ally asked.  
  
"Yeah, you wanna stop over after the movie?"  
  
"Sure." She said. "I gotta be home by twelve though, or mama will have a fit. You know my mother." Ally said leaning her head on Ponyboy's shoulder.  
  
"Yes, I do." Ponyboy said sighing.  
  
"Oh, c'mon. She aint that bad." Ally said defensively.  
  
"She hates me."  
  
"She doesn't hate anybody." Ally said. "She just doesn't take to kindly to boys around my age."  
  
"Yeah, I noticed." He said and then looked over to the food counter and mumbled, "I'm hungry were are the burgers?"  
  
"Don't be so impatient, their cooking them." Ally said. "Oh no. Look who just walked through the door." Ally said, nodding towards the entrance to a tall boy with large glasses and a very small build.  
  
"Hi guys!" Malcolm said walking over to their table.  
  
"Hi Malcolm." Pony said dully as he slouched down in his seat. Malcolm. he was nice but he was just about as annoying as anyone could get. He talked all the time and when he got started on a subject he didn't ever stop. Not to mention that everything he talked about could only be understood by rocket scientists.  
  
"You guys getting some dinner? Can I sit down?" He asked. Ponyboy started to say something but Malcolm took a seat at the other side of the booth. Pony didn't get a chance to finish the one word that was coming out of his mouth, 'no.' "So how ya'll doing?" Malcolm asked, grinning widely at the other two who gave him blank stares.  
  
"We were uh, just about to leave." Ponyboy said standing up.  
  
"We'll see you later, Malcolm." Ally said politely and stood up quickly after Pony and they headed out.  
  
"Ok, bye guys! See yah later!" he shouted after them.  
  
"You don't have to be so mean to the poor kid." Ally said as they walked toward the car.  
  
"Well you can't exactly act to friendly with that guy or he'll get the idea that you want to sit and talk for hours on end and believe me I learned the hard way. You wanna get some pizza or something?"  
  
***  
  
"Where'd you park?" Ally asked as they walked away from the Shepard's house. "Somewhere down the street." Pony said pointing off into the distance. "What time is it?"  
  
Ally looked down at her watch and squinted to try and see the small numbers in the dark. "It's um. one thirty. Mama's gonna have a fit."  
  
"Yeah, so is Darry." Pony sighed. "I was supposed to be home an hour ago and he'll go ballistic if he knows were I've been during that time." Ally laughed. "Well, I can't turn back time." Ponyboy said. "Maybe he'll be sleeping."  
  
Two tall dark figures jumped out suddenly and took a hold of the them. Ally looked frantically at the person who had her trapped in his grasp. "You let her go!" Pony yelled as he struggled to get free from the guy that had a good hold of him.  
  
"What you gonna do about it?" The Soc said as he caught Ally's free arm and held it down so she couldn't hit him.  
  
"You're on the wrong side of town." Ponyboy said. "You ought to watch your back. My friends house is just down the street."  
  
"Is that right?" The one that had a hold of Ponyboy said. Pony looked back at the guy and then over at the other. They were older, maybe nineteen, and they both appeared to be very drunk.  
  
"What do you want with us?" Ally demanded.  
  
"What do you think we want?" the guy that had Ally said stroking her hair.  
  
"Don't you touch her!" Ponyboy screamed. "You best get your hands off her! You hear me?" Pony fought hard to get away from the guy and got an arm loose. He reached back and punched him hard. The boy let go momentarily but then responded with a blow to Ponyboy which gave him a soon to be black eye. Pony looked around for something, anything he could use but he couldn't find anything. The other boy was keeping a tight hold of Ally so the second Pony got the first down he tried to help Ally out except the other jumped on him from behind and had him down in seconds.  
  
"Knock the kid out, Jason! We don't have that much time before someone else show's up." The soc that had Ally yelled. "Hey, let go you little." He was cut off because Ally's nails were digging into the skin on his arm. He grabbed her arm and held it away.  
  
"Let go!" She screamed. Ally was kicking and screaming bloody murder and then they all heard footsteps. Jason and his friend disappeared as Tim and a bunch of other guys came running around the corner.  
  
"Ya'll ok?" Tim asked. "We heard screaming."  
  
Ponyboy nodded. "Thanks, you scared them off." He then turned to Ally. "You ok, baby?" He asked going over quickly and pulling her into a hug.  
  
"I'll be all-right." She said wiping several escaping tears from her eyes. "I'm a little shaken up but I think I'll be all-right."  
  
Ponyboy nodded. "C'mon lets get you home."  
  
***  
  
Ponyboy peered through the window but he didn't see Darry so there was some hope that he was asleep. He opened the door and stepped in heading off to his room.  
  
"Pony, you're almost two hours late." Darry said coming out of the kitchen.  
  
"I know." I'm sorry Ponyboy said and walked toward the hallway.  
  
"Where were you?" Darry stopped him and then looked at him more closely. "You ok, kiddo? What happened to your eye?"  
  
Ponyboy sighed. "Well, one of the reasons I'm late is a couple Socs jumped me and Ally. I think they intended to rape her but some friends helped us out. We're ok Dar, Ally got freaked but I think she'll calm down in a few days. Can I go now?"  
  
Darry shook his head. "Why else are you late?" He asked.  
  
"Went to a party Tim had." Ponyboy mumbled. Darry gave his brother a solemn look. "We were just hanging out there." Pony said.  
  
"You drink?" Darry asked coming over to see if he could smell liquor on him.  
  
"No, Dar. I didn't touch a drop. I'm tired. Can I please go to bed now?"  
  
"In a minute. You know you're not aloud at those kinds of parties. If you'd asked me I would've said no. You have better judgment."  
  
"I know." Pony mumbled. "Sorry, I won't do it again."  
  
"Apology excepted." Darry said. "But be more careful, Ponyboy. You hear me little man? If you had been home on time you probably wouldn't have run into those Socs."  
  
"I know. I'll be more careful. Dontcha think you should extend my curfew now though? I am a senior you know."  
  
"Pony just because you're going into twelfth next year don't mean I'm gonna be more lenient. You are gonna find that the kids in your class are gonna be going out later than you and doing other stuff. They're older though. Don't forget that."  
  
"Fine. Hey is Sodapop asleep? I wanna talk to him."  
  
"No, he went out."  
  
"See you don't make him come home till like five and he's less than three years older than me."  
  
"He's eighteen now. You just turned sixteen. Legally he's an adult. Despite the fact he don't act it." Darry murmured the last part.  
  
"You don't treat me like an adult." Soda said walking in the door.  
  
"You're home early."  
  
"I'm sleepy." Soda yawned. "Hi, Pon. Ya'll having the 'you're late' conversation?" Pony nodded. "Isn't he a pain?" Soda nodded towards Darry. "All them rules and stuff. All that 'you're still living under my roof' junk." Darry glared at him. "It's ok, Dar. I love yah." Soda said and walked off to his room. Ponyboy smiled slightly, said goodnight to Darry, and followed Sodapop to bed. He was tired himself. 


End file.
